Ahead of Yorkshire Vikings Vitality Blast game against Roses rivals Lancashire Lightning in two weeks time, we look back on some classic encounters between the two teams.
Here’s a quiz question for you. Can you name the Yorkshire team who played in the county’s first ever T20 home game against Lancashire at Headingley in June 2004?
We will be naming a number throughout this recap on a famous night which saw Australian Ian Harvey shine with a stunning century – Yorkshire’s first in T20 cricket. There you go, you’ve got one.
But it’s up to you to fill in the blanks. You have until the end of the article to fill in the blanks.
Yorkshire won this one by eight wickets with 2.1 overs to spare as they comfortably chased down a target of 169.
Andrew Flintoff had opened the batting for the visitors and crashed 85 off 56 balls. But no one else offered the England man support, with wicketkeeper Warren Hegg’s 20 down the order their next best score.
Off-spinner Andrew Gray led the way with an excellent 3-18 from 3.1 overs, while Harvey was one of two other bowlers to strike twice.
This was definitely all-rounder Harvey’s night as he then made light work of the chase to post Yorkshire’s first ever T20 century, finishing with 108 off 59 balls.
Of seven centuries scored in the history of the Blast, which has been running since 2003, Harvey has two of them alongside current freewheeler Jonny Bairstow, who plays in much the same fashion.
This was a fixture which will be best remembered for Harvey’s heroics, but it also included the quirky occurence of both captains – Craig White for Yorkshire and Lancashire’s Hegg – having to leave the field injured.
Yorkshire chase started in deteriorating late, but it didn’t bother Australian international Harvey one bit.
He helped to take 18 off Glen Chapple in the second over of the chase and rode the wave from there, crashing 16 fours and two sixes in all.
Harvey reached his century off just 53 balls shortly before victory was confirmed, with one match report from the night including the telling line: “None of the Lancashire bowlers returned figures they would wish to be recorded.”
So, have you been able to name the Yorkshire team from that night?
Here it is: Ian Harvey, Matthew Wood, Phil Jaques, Michael Lumb, Craig White c, Anthony McGrath, Richard Blakey w, Richard Dawson, Tim Bresnan, Andrew Gray, Steve Kirby.
Let’s hope that in another 20 or so years, we are writing about Yorkshire’s Vitality Blast team in similar fashion following another memorable victory over the old enemy.
